Thursday, 23 December 2010

I was just humming this beautiful song by Kishore Kumar and was lost in my memories associated with this song. Let me share this memory with you today.

When I was a little girl, every night while my parents tucked me
into bed, Papa would narrate a bed time story. Papa’s stories normally began something like this – '' once upon a time there was a happy place and there
lived a little girl.... a sparrow...a rabbit..…etc etc. Basically, all of Papa’s stories were
based in this ''happy place''. When I used to ask Papa where was this
happy place located, Papa would say that if I close my eyes and take a deep breath, I
would be able to see that happy place. I followed this advice and every time, Papa narrated
me a story, I would close my eyes, take a deep breath and try to find the happy place and the little girl, the bird or whoever the character of the story was. It worked, I could actually see the characters of the story and also fall asleep peacefully.

As I grew a bit older and I was beyond the age of listening to bedtime
stories ( mind you, I would still love to listen to Papa's bedtime stories..Papa is simply good at narrating stories...Oh the happy childhood days!) , Amma and Papa used
to play some soft melodies of the 60s and 70s era during bedtime. Whenever the tape recorder, played Aa chalkey tujhe song I would
close my eyes, take a deep breath and think of Papa's bed time stories and also I used to see all the good things around me and
develop a calm and peaceful feeling.

Happiness lies within us. If we don’t see them, they become
invisible. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and go to that happy place
within you. That Happy place belongs to you, it is with you in whatever you do
and you can take it with you wherever you go. As you go to that happy place within you, don’t you hear a voice there that
asks you to believe in yourself? Don't you hear the voice that asks you to remain
hopeful and positive? Don’t you hear the voice that asks you to share love and respect? Does that happy place not bring a smile on your face?

As, I write this post, I am feeling a deep sense of
happiness. I want to take this opportunity to THANKall you lovely Blogdosts
who read my blog and who leave comments on my posts, my THANKS are also due to all
you lovely visitors who read my blog and don’t leave comments but do come back to my blog another time. All of you mean a lot to me and and it is you who inspire me to carry on producing blogposts. I want you all to know that I
love you all and want you to be happy always. I hope that we will continue our friendship in the new year too.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU. I hope your Santa brings you loads of happiness.

Here’s wishing all
you lovely bloggers and readers in the
Blogosphere a VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR. I hope all your dreams come true just like
how you wish them to be or even BETTER. Hope all of us are surrounded by good
health, fortune and HAPPINESS always.

Monday, 20 December 2010

Once upon a time in the city of filmisthaan lived two girls namely, Munni and Sheela. Sheela was Munni’s devar’s ex girl friend.

MUNNI had gulaabi gaal, sharaabi nain and nawabi chaal. She
had 'phigure' like that of Shilpa and charisma like that of Bebo. Then one day, she went to a desi daaru adda did some 'thumkey', 'latkey' ,'jhatkey' and thus became 'badnaam'. Sareaam she offered herself to her darling and further went
on to become a Zandu Balm - not a pain relieveing Zandu balm but one that
induces pain in the err...head of 'mango people' who like to watch some descent shows on TV and
listen to some descent music.

Maaney na Maaney koi, yeh duniya was sheela ki deewani - so claimed
SHEELA herself. During the mid 2010, Sheela had entered
into ‘Rajneeti’ and she used to elegantly dress in saaris and salwar kameez. But one day, she went to a metropolitan discotheque with skimpy outfit and danced to some peppy beats
and announced that she was ‘jawan’. Little later Sheela suffered from amnesia as she kept screaming ‘whats my name, whats
my name ??

Now Munni’s 'badnaami' and Sheela’s 'jawani' are well publicised
topics in the Indian media and have constantly filled in newspaper columns, TV, Radio, SMS, you
tube videos, blog posts etc. The music artists who like to make remix videos by
picking popular songs and featuring in them with minimal clothes are disappointed with Munni and Sheela because together Munni and Sheela have put these artists out of game. Poor guy Sallu is also upset because pehely bhaabhi badnaam
hui aur ab ex-girl friend haath nahi aa rahi hai!

FM radio stations and other websites across India have analysed who among the two is more
popular based on various parameters such as branding, costumes, latkey jhatkey etc etc . They have confirmed that Sheela is more popular
than Munni. Rightly so, afterall Sheela, is 'jawaan' as well as 'badnaam' whereas Munni is just
badnaam.

Munni and Sheela probably lived happily ever after becoming badnaam and jawaan and generating revenues for 'filmisthaan' and for themselves by signing up for endorsements.

OK, Kahaani khatm. Serious stuff now - I can't believe I am writing about these item songs. But these songs have taken our nation by storm. I am not in favour of these songs but I would be lying if I say Idid not watch these videos.(how else would I be writing about these songs?). I was disappointed with Katrina and also felt disgusted when I watched the song but I have been wondering though if there is any point criticising these songs? Who is to be blamed - the movie makers, lyricists or the actors? Why would they not make such item songs? Afterall, they are there for making money and such songs do generate huge revenues. The truth is film makers are only going by the demands of the modern day film industry and liberalisation of mainstream cinema. The best the viewers can do is to hold onto their remote controls and also hold other plans on a Sunday afternoon rather than going to watch Dabaang or Tees Mar Khan.

Sunday, 19 December 2010

This Christmas is going to be special. My sister and her family are visiting me from the US. I haven't seen them outside of pictures for the last 6 years!!

As much as I am excited, my little 6 year old nephew is also very excited about this trip. For the last five years, I have been sending this lil boy gifts for Christmas via amazon, addressed to him, with a little note saying,'' Thank you for being a good boy this year, Love, Santa Claus from London''. For the first three years of his life, he did not know, who this Santa Claus was but certainly since last two years, he has known that I was the Santa who was sending him these gifts. Nevertheless, he was pleased for the gifts that I sent him.

I am yet to buy his present this year but apparently, with the help of his Mum, he has bought me a present. Last night he called up to say that, he would be getting me a surprise gift. With all excitement I asked him what the gift was and he said it was going to be a SURPRISE!! Yet, the little boy chose to give me some clues about my Gift. Apparently,

- It comes in a box.

- It is applied on the face to enhance beauty!

- It is colourful

- It is something that I would surely love

and most importantly it is a BIG SURPRISE!!!!

I can't wait for my MAKE UP KIT. Oops! I mean ..I Can't wait For MY SPECIAL SURPRISE GIFT from the Santa who is 6 year old!!!

I do not have words to describe the enthusiasm and effort this child has put in getting his aunt a SURPRISE gift for Christmas.

Saturday, 18 December 2010

1) Attempt to start the car again.....just
in case the car has sorted itself out after you rang the recovery service.

2) 1 hour 10 minutes??? Oh Come on, what is
the mechanic doing? Why does he need an hour to reach the site? Do the recovery services not
understand what 'quick service’ means? What are they paid for?

3) Decide to listen to some music while
looking around. …'Chor bazaari do nainon ki’…beep beep....go to next
song….'haulley haulley ho jaayega pyaar'... …beep beep..... OFF. For some
reason, it doesn’t feel right place, time and mood for music.

4) Search in the
dashboard and cabins for some CDs, chocolates or something to nibble.

5) Check the time… How
long ago was the phone call made? Good Lord, why is the mechanic still not
here?

6) Keep an eye on the approaching vehicles. Just in case the mechanic cannot find
the car and you need to wave to the mechanic!

7) Ah! perhaps it is time to ring
some friend who you would have otherwise not bothered to call. You search for
their name on your contacts and then for some reason decide to not to
call.

8) Realise that you are very hungry and, thinking of food, you also
realise that you have not kept the milk jar back in the fridge after use in the
afternoon...damn! it will go stale and you cannot have a cup of tea IF and when
you go home.

9) You wonder whether to ring the mechanic once again ? Just to find out if he is on
his way!

10) Hunch forward at the sight of an approaching vehicle. All the oncoming
vehicles appear to be recovery vehicles until they drive past you.

11) THANK GOD
as the mechanic arrives and hope that nothing major is wrong with the car.

12) When the car is fixed, you take
A BIG SIGH OF RELIEF, thank the mechanic and drive away thinking you have found a topic for your
blog post today!

I was delighted by the beautiful butterfly that I
saw during my morning walk today. The butterfly just came fluttering by
and sat on a flower gently. The flower swayed but the butterfly stood still on
its surface. A minute later the butterfly flapped its wings and rose into the
air; once again it was in the sky, flitting from flower
to flower, fluttering its strong yet so fragile wings.

In happiness, we are like the fluttering
butterfly in the air and in sorrow, we should be like the butterfly that stands
still on the surface of the swaying flower. During the downs, just hang on, gather
strength and stretch your wings and take off rejuvenated for the next phase.

Thursday, 16 December 2010

While I was sitting on a bench and sipping into my hot
chocolate at the shopping mall this evening, my eyes caught sight of this (probably)
three year old girl playing with a balloon. Her mother was chatting to someone
on her mobile phone. The little girl appeared extremely joyful to throw and
kick the balloon around. She was applauding and shouting joyfully every time the balloon flew up and landed
either on the flower pot by the side of the bench that her mother was sitting
on or on the lap of the old lady who was sat on the other side of the bench. The
girl was simply fascinated to watch the balloon bob about when she gently patted it.
The fun continued for few minutes until there was a noise DHUBBBBBB and the
balloon burst :(. Initially, The little girl was frightened by the
bang of the bursting balloon and when she realised that she had
lost her toy, needless to say, she was in tears.

It was disappointing
to see the happy child crying. But what moved me was what the girl's mother said to her to comfort her. She told the little girl, ''You had great
fun until few minutes ago. Let me know when you feel better again and we can
ring daddy and tell him how the balloon moves high when you pat it gently’’.

Isn't that amazing how putting things in perspective helps to handle disappointments? The
little girl understood that minor disappointments don’t last forever
as she was explaining to her dad about the good time that she had had with the balloon.

Wednesday, 15 December 2010

After an hour long conversation with my friend who lives in India, I have just come off the
phone. I do not get to talk to her often. Nether do I get a chance to see her
every time I visit India. Yet, she is one true friend who has always been with
me and I know she will be with me forever. She can listen to what I don’t say .

Looking back, I realise, I made some friends, lost some
friends, and then made some more, lost some more and......This is pretty much the same with every one of us, isn’t it?Friends come, friends go. Sometimes we do the
leaving, sometimes we are left behind. Yet, all of us have few very special
friends who have been with us always and will be with us forever.

True friends are hard to come by. If you have a true
friend/s treat them as special. Several years from now, if you were to look back, you might
still find them with you.

Sunday, 12 December 2010

To be frank, I am not sure I can give tips on how to get
noticed in the blogosphere because, firstly, I am not a notable blogger and
secondly, if I knew how to get noticed in the blogosphere, then you would not find this post on my blog but on other websites. Therefore, I will keep this post as short as possible.

I am yet to find my niche in the blogosphere. Still suffering from what is called the Writer’s Block. Couple of times, I wrote posts about current political issues
because, generally, socio political
bloggers get more attention. But when I read
the final write up, I myself did not like it. How was anyone else going to like
it? So there it was, in my dashboard, no one read it, except me :(

Then I wrote a post poking fun at celebrities. It was great in every respect but not in getting across the humour that it was intended to convey. Again, that post did not make it to my public page.

I grew up reading Tinkle and Archies. I thought I could
write one of those 'suppandi' jokes each day. I remember those jokes vividly ..afterall, I narrate them everytime I hang out with my friends. Perhaps, it is time now
to share those jokes in the blogosphere. Good stuff! but the downside is
I need to have artistic skills to draw 'suppandi' and his 'master'. I quit drawing since the day I attempted to draw an elephant and my team players could not guess it in the pictionary game and we lost.

I am a movie buff and watch hell lot of bollywood movies so
I thought may be I should write about movie reviews. But hey, only one who watches a movie can write a review on that movie, right? In the last few months, I have watched so many bollywood movies but all of them only for first few minutes. Not because, I didnt have time to watch the complete movie but the movies were so damn boring that I could not watch them any longer than the initial fifteen minutes......I just could not. Kites, Raavan, Action Play to name a few.

Many of my posts are simply about something that is
currently happening in my life or something that happened in the past. Why
would someone be interested in knowing about a someone somewhere who writes
about something and who knows a little about the loooooooot of things happening
in the Indian politics, bollywood, Big Boss 4 etc?

Oh......just realised, I had begun this post to share tips on how to get noticed in the blogosphere.
Sorry for moving out of scope. So, coming back to tips, I
have come to the conclusion that you become a noticed blogger by writing for yourself
and using your own original ideas.

Keep up the good work, blogbuddies. That is the
best tip I have for you and ME at the moment.

Thursday, 9 December 2010

NO , I don’t miss my favourite TV programmes Sasuraal Genda phool or X factor in order
to blog.

Do I Mental blog all
the time these days?

NO, I don’t think about blogging when I am driving, cooking,
walking, reading, watching TV and people
watching?

Do I regularly log in to e
blogger even when I am busy at work?

NO, I have my
blogger page and RSS feed always open on my desktop.

Do my friends and
family complain that of late I don’t give them enough time?

NO, They are fine
if I say I want to spend some time in front of the PC.

Do I lose track of
time when I am in front of computer?

NO, because I am sitting in front of a PC,
I put it to blog related use and not the other way round.

Do I write posts
during working hours?

NO, during work hours, I only jot down things that are of interest of me.

Do I see everything that goes on around me as a potential blog post?

NO, I can see two
squirrels fighting for a nut on the tree outside my window without thinking
that it is blog worthy. I can watch an interesting documentary on TV without
thinking that it is blog worthy, I can recollect the fond memories of my
childhood without thinking that it is blog worthy. I read other blogs and do not
get tempted to write on a similar topic.

Do I feel anxious
when I have not written a post for four days or when I have not replied to my comments or if I have not
commented on my favourite bloggers’ blog for four days?

NO, I take it easy and don't think about blogging until I am actually writing a post.

Sunday, 5 December 2010

I just wanted to tell you, you are my best companion and you are very beautiful, clean and pure.

I want to celebrate our two decades (and few something years) of association today. We have been together ever since I made appearance in this world. During the initial few years, I did not know you existed but as I began to explore the world and people around me, you began your curious journey of endless questioning too. Do you remember, how you influenced me to ask some sensible and some not so sensible questions such as what happens after death? why is ant so tiny? why is a rose plant called a rose plant and not a rose tree? why is a banyan tree called a banyan tree and not a banyan plant?? You curious, lil thing!

You have stood by me through thick and thin. Every time I laugh, you laugh with me. When I cry, you cry with me but you settle down sooner and offer me courage and strength by saying that it is not possible to avoid unpleasant things in life and that ''sab theek ho jayega''. You and I are in constant conversation with each other. We even smile together.

You have the ability to interpret what is wrong and right. I just want you to know that anytime, I do something wrong, it is purely because I resist to listen to you. Yet, you stand by me and assure me that you believe that I would learn to not to repeat the same mistake in future. You are the one who enables me to face the person I see when I look into a mirror. Also, when I do something to please you, you beautifully compliment me.For instance, you know right, how I dislike going for team lunches in the office? Yet, you help me to smile and go ahead with it.

You and I share same hobbies and interests. You love the people I love. But it is fascinating to know that you also like the people that I don't particularly like. I am referring to those school mates and work colleagues that I dislike. I don't understand why you tell me that they are not so bad but they are just like me and that I need to have a positive outlook towards them. I like it when you tell me that people are always good. It is only circumstances and times that make them appear bad. I want to respect you when you tell me they have a mind as curious, innocent and beautiful as I do.

I am so proud of you that you are so easy to get along with and that you have connected very well with all my friends, my blog and more importantly my blogdosts. It is nice to see that you care for them and want to always wish them well.

You may be aware that whatever I am today, it is because of you. You had a dream for me since I was a little kid and I just followed it. Isn't it amazing how your dream is my reality today??

I know you want to see me be happy always and settle for nothing less than best in life.

Friday, 3 December 2010

Ajay and Pepper (two of my blogdosts from the blogsphere) wrote
beautiful posts about their childhood misconceptions. After reading
those sweet posts, I am quite tempted to jot down some of my childhood
misconceptions. Here we go:

1)I assumed Television had the largest
population - yes, I believed that all who appear on TV lived inside the
TV. Especially the DD1 news readers, the actors and thousands of people who gather in the stadium to watch a cricket match or republic day parade. I also, wondered what did the
actors do when the news readers were reading the news and vice versa. Also,
what did all of them do when our TV was switched off?

2)In Hindi movies, whenever the actors disguised by
pasting a mole on their face, i believed that others could not recognise them. Yet,
I wondered why I was able to recognise the actors? I assumed that is
because I was very smart.

3)I believed a Foreign country meant AMERICA. Srilanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh were neighbouring
countries. I didn’t know about other countries then.

4)When my cousins and I used to gather and the elders would
suggest a game – '' one who keeps quiet for the longest period is GOD''. I
believed that was true and wanted to be quiet more than anything else.

5)When someone said ''pet mein choohey daud rahey hain'' I
believed there were rats inside their tummy and felt YUCK.

6)During the fighting sequence in the movies, I used to
be quite fascinated by the ‘Dishum Dishum’ noise. I used to hit my brother and
wonder why there was no dishum dishum noise?

7)Just before bedtime, when Amma and Papa used to ask me
to brush my teeth, I used to pretend to be asleep. Dad used to say that if
someone is asleep, then they should snore. Immediately, I used to make snoring
noises, assuming that they would believe I was asleep. This was the case on
most of the evenings, and I believed that I was smarter than them.

8)I used to hide behind the bedroom door and shout ‘bhow’
at my parents when they entered the room and actually believed that they got scared.

9) I was clever enough to know
that playback singers sang for actors. But, when Aamir and Juhi in (QSQT)
were lost in the forest singing (gazab ka hai din), I wondered Where were
Udit and Alka?

These are a few that
I can vividly remember. I am sure, there were many more. I thoroughly enjoyed
writing this post. Thank you Ajay for encouraging me to write this post. Thank
you Pepper for the original idea and the tag.